Pages

Thursday, January 15, 2015

:: 5 Gift Ideas- A Little Something for Everybody

** First I just wanted to say--- Thank you so much for all your kind words and comments on yesterdays post. Y'all can sure make a girl feel good-- especially, after she's been running her head too much!

This is my Homemade Christmas Wrap Up-- I showed you the Personalized mugs I created for OLDER GRAND-KIDS… and told you I’d be back to show the rest of the gifts I made. Here they are. I hope there is something here you might be inspired to make! There are no links—I found most of these ideas and pinned them on Pinterest :: HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS::

I made these last April… and remembered why I don’t make them much anymore…
I don’t have a horizontal handle on my stove to hang them! I never even put buttons on them- I put them up and never used them. I ended up giving them to my daughter for Christmas. She hinted at Thanksgiving… that she needed towels and pot holders! The colors were perfect for her kitchen, she hung them up right then and there. Yay!

For my youngest daughter--- I sewed a cash envelope system—with zippered pouches and a place for coupons, and slots for various cards, “Thank You Cards” – Valued Shoppers, etc It was a big hit with her. She took up the EXTREME COUPONING this year, and NOW she and her hubby have agreed to go to CASH ENVELOPES… I knew she’d like it…And why not? All the fabric was remnants from her stash! She practically picked it all out herself and didn’t even know it. ;)

I’m not kidding when I say… the zippers, were tricky for me. But I DID IT!

For the 2 oldest boys—they got new tablets. So I made them Gaming Bags. My friend Angel—reminded me of ‘POSSIBLE BAGS’ – but that didn’t stick. The boys just call them Game Bags! Hey whatever-- I made them from recycled jeans and from my stash of fabric I used the Super Hero remnants. They’re a hit! The bags are reversible, but the boys like the SUPER HERO OUT!
IRON MAN AND SPIDERMAN! …for East. For West- The Caped Crusader! – these bags hold the tablet, the cool headphones and a charger and whatever else East can POSSIBLY cRaM! inside his! ;)
Miss Night and Miss Day—both got Fox dolls complete with accessories! (head-band, purse, shoes and skirt) I’ve seen these on Instagram and all over Pinterest! I’m sorry to say, I don’t know where I got the pattern from exactly now. But, I barely follow a pattern anyway—so, I pretty much just created as I went!
The girls love their foxes! Trixie is on the left and Foxie is on the right! The girls named them!
For the smaller boys—I crocheted beard boggins!
Let me just say… I’ve seen infants/ toddlers posing in pictures with these things on—and for the most part, they seemed happy. I don’t know what kind of bribes they received for taking such deceptive photos-- But my grandsons… the 15 month old and almost 3 year… HA! THEY DON’T CARE MUCH FOR THE BEARD PART OF THE BOGGIN. :/
Not a complete fail—as with most young boys—they will grow into the quirky fun aspect of the beardboggin AND LEARN TO APPRECIATE IT—I’ve no doubt! The other thing is I followed a pattern for the beard—but for the blue and white hat—it is my own creation.
The Where’s Waldo Hat?
While I did GOOGLE the color scheme … I actually FOLLOWED A PATTERN! I know I should have given you fair warning to make sure you were sitting down. It’s a shocker for sure! I hardly follow recipes—and following a pattern, well, sometimes it takes less time to just make something, and other times it eats up the time to do your own thing – definitely, PROS and CONS to pattern following. I like this hat because I became more familiar with the front post double crochet. YEP! I learned a new stitch!
All that aside—the boys will wear their hats… just not crazy about the beard.
Between the Personalized Mugs and the Snack Plates (here) for the Football fans in the family… I think I did pretty well, making all the gifts!
It takes a little bit of extra time—but honestly, there is so much out there to compete for their attention, the commercial aspect of gift giving takes something away from the true meaning of giving and receiving. So may think it’s cheap, but I don’t think so. I like doing this— and it isn’t over the top! The kids like it and the parents do too!

Do you make a lot of the gifts that you give?

Do you recycle or repurpose with your handmade gifts items? What are your thoughts on that?

Do you get a satisfaction from making gifts or going shopping? Me? I’d rather stay out of the stores if I can—I love finding gifts I can make for large numbers of people—fairly quickly; but there ARE TIMES …when a little bit of thought and planning can go a long way and put a smile on someone's face… or a beard-boggin. ;)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~“ Whatever you DO, do your work heartily as for the LORD, rather than for men, Knowing that from the LORD you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the LORD Christ whom you serve.” ~Colossians 3: 23-24

9 comments:

I don't do a lot of sewing (yet), but I do make handmade gifts every year. I gave handmade hand lotion, crocheted hot pads (over sized ones), and a few other gifts. I'm already making a list for next Christmas so I'm not behind.

________________

This blog is about Homesteading; Gardening, Recycling, and Resourceful DIY-ing with limited funds on a retirement income. A budget-minded, friendly, Christian-homemaker, wife, Oma and caretaker to children, chickens, one dog and one Grumpy Old Guy